Blue Bell says a Walmart in Lufkin is where a woman was seen opening a tub of Tin Roof ice cream, licking the top of it and putting it back in the freezer.
Police say they’ve tracked down the teen filmed licking a tub of Blue Bell ice cream then putting it back in a store freezer. The shocking incident took place in a Walmart in Lufkin, Texas. The video, which shows the girl taking the lid off the tub and then licking the contents inside, was viewed millions of times on Twitter. Blue Bell said it was taking the issue “very seriously.” Police said they have identified the person and interviewed her. The incident remains under investigation.
The now viral video led to an investigation by police and Blue Bell.
An inspection of the ice cream at the Walmart found one half gallon of Tin Roof to be compromised, Blue Bell said in a news release Wednesday.
“Based on security footage, the location and the inspection of the carton, we believe we may have recovered the half gallon that was tampered with,” Blue Bell said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have also removed all Tin Roof half gallons from that location.”
Blue Bell went on to say, “The safety of our ice cream is our highest priority, and we work hard to maintain the highest level of confidence of our customers. Food tampering is not a joke, and we will not tolerate tampering with our products. We are grateful to the customers who alerted us and provided us with information.”
Fox News reports,
Meanwhile, the Lufkin Police Department is working to confirm the identity of the female suspect — dubbed the “Lufkin Licker” in some reports — and will get a warrant for her arrest on a charge of second-degree felony tampering with a consumer product once her identity is confirmed, the department said in a Facebook post.
The charges could be penalized with a prison sentence of 2–20 years and $10,000 in fines, per the Texas state penal code, and as noted by The New York Post.
Detectives are also working to identify a male seen entering and leaving the story in a green shirt with the woman. Police believe he was the person behind the camera in filming the viral “licking” video. “Detectives will continue to work through the holiday on this case,” the department said.
On Wednesday the company said it believes it has identified the exact container that appears in the video.
“Based on security footage, the location and the inspection of the carton, we believe we may have recovered the half gallon that was tampered with,” Blue Bell said, according to Fort Worth’s KTXA-TV.
Surveillance footage from the Lufkin Walmart shows a woman who resembles the suspect in the viral video, police said. The surveillance footage was shot around 11 p.m. last Friday, they said.
After the video hit the Internet on Friday, Blue Bell began investigating Walmart locations in San Antonio, Houston and eventually Lufkin after social media comments suggested the woman was from the San Antonio area.
